Dr. Vijai S Shankar MD.PhD.
Published on www.academy-advaita.com
The Netherlands
8th May 2018
Learn 1
“Past”
Learn from what you did in the past so that you do not do that again in the present, if you do not like what you did in the past. This is the advice given by people with knowledge. Every man and woman is convinced about the value of this advice.
The value of the advice refers to being happy and to avoid being sad. This is because man and woman are either happy, when they like what they did in the past or sad, when they do not like what they did in the past.
The emotions concerned with being happy because of what they did in the past are always wanted in the present. The emotions concerned with being sad because of what they did in the past are always not wanted in the present, because the emotions are distressing, to say the least.
The advice given by the people with knowledge is valuable to every man and woman because they only wish and want to be happy in the present and not sad in the present.
If man could learn from his past to be happy so that he could be happy in the present, the question arises why man cannot learn in the present to be happy, because he always wishes and wants to be happy in the present.
Why does man have to depend on learning from his past to be happy in the present is the question? If man cannot learn to be happy in the present, it means that he will not be able to learn to be happy in the present from his past as well.
The question is, therefore, is a man or a woman able to learn to be happy from the present instead of from his or her past? If he or she is unable to learn from his or her present, the past gives man and woman a hope that they can learn to be happy in the present from their past.
Is it ever possible to learn from the past moment is the further question?
The wise inform wisdom to man and woman that they are happy only in the moment if they are happy. The wise also inform that, if man and woman are able to make the moment in life, they could very well make themselves happy in the moment as well.
The wise further inform wisdom that neither man nor woman make the moment in life which becomes the past. They also inform that the moment in life is not made by them either. The moment in life has always been there much before man and woman were received in the moment by the intelligence in life.
The enlightened have rightly proclaimed that we come to learn what we are meant to learn, albeit illusory, in the ‘here and now’.
Author: Dr. Vijai S. Shankar
©Copyright V. S. Shankar 2018
Editor’s Note:
The past, the present and the future have a reality in our lives. Each one of these concepts has a place in our life-diary and together form a continuum. Thus, standing in the present, as only we can stand, we may formulate our strategy for the future whilst drawing upon lessons from the past. This has been the tried and trusted way for our journey in life. Until, that is, the wisdom of the wise gradually cements in our understanding. May it be as it is meant to be.
Julian Capper, UK.
German Translator’s Note:
Does a plant learn to be a plant? Does an animal learn to be an animal? Obviously, a plant evolves as a plant during the evolution of life. Obviously, a plant evolves as an animal in the course of evolution. And so an animal also evolves as a human without learning, it just happens in the course of evolution. In the same way, man also develops into a happy person and he does not learn it. The enlightened ones are humans in whom unconditional happiness has developed, they have not learned it. Dr. Shankar shares the understanding that learning is an illusion that confuses evolutionary development with an act of will. This understanding produces happiness without having learned it.
Marcus Stegmaier, Germany.